Dreaming

My husband has a bad cold, or possibly a sinus infection.  So I slept in another bedroom last night, on a different level of the house, so I could avoid his snoring.  No big deal. I slept for 6.5 straight hours and had to get up to use the bathroom, but went back to bed since it wasn't quite 5 AM. I was glad to have an extra 75 minutes of sleep, but was amazed at the vivid and memorable dream I had in that time frame.

I dreamt that my mother, one of my sisters and I went for a walk. This was, obviously, a much younger version of my mother because she's nearly 91 now. So we walked, and walked, and came across lots of people to say hello to, and kids playing on the sidewalks, etc. The skies darkened, though, and I wanted to head back home.  Mom and sis wanted to continue in the direction they were headed. I  turned around to go home, and in that mysterious way that dreams do, suddenly I was in a neighborhood that didn't seem familiar.  I saw a grocery store that looked familiar, went inside to ask if I could make a phone call because I'd left my cell at home. I was told they didn't have any pay phones and was shown the door.  Down the street (after I crossed railroad tracks) I found two men, aged 65-70, and asked if I could borrow one of their cell phones because I needed someone to pick me up.  "Sorry, I forgot mine at home too!" said one of them.  I continued on. Nearby I stopped at a house where two older women (older than me) had some young children about. When I asked if I could make a phone call, they looked at me suspiciously and told me a resounding "NO!" So I left their front porch, and looking up the hilly street, saw concrete edges to what seemed to be a bridge.  I started to walk in that direction, and began crying softly as I did.  One of the women at the house had a sudden change of heart, and called for me to come back.  They treated me much more kindly when I went back inside.  And they went in search of their phone, which (obviously) was missing. In the meantime I asked them where I was so I could tell someone, when I made a phone call, how to find me.  They kept searching for words to explain where they lived and could not really say.  I said "Do you  have a map? Can you show me where we are on a map?" "Good idea!" one of them exclaimed.  "We'll find a map!"

It was around this point in the dream when the outside/real world intruded on my sleep.  I heard the cat scratching in her litter box outside the bedroom, in front of the sliding glass door to the patio.  That was my cue to open my eyes.  I could see daylight in the window, so I realized I had to get my butt out of bed and get the day started.  The dream stayed with me when I went upstairs.  So often when I dream I lose details rapidly, and even if it's a fascinating sequence of events, when I go back to mull them over, they're gone.  Poof.  In the wind.  This one stayed with me. I wish I could figure out why.